[Nick Fury has issued you a new mission.] [Mission: Extermination] [Objective: Eliminate every vampire at the designated location.] [Rewards: EXP +3,000, Random Items ×2.] “Understood.
I’ll get it done.” Calvin ended the call and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Judging from Fury’s reaction, S.H.I.E.L.D.
had probably fought vampires before, and whatever happened back then clearly had not ended pleasantly.
Otherwise, someone as calculating as Nick Fury would never have tripled a mission bonus out of sheer anger.
Calvin had no interest in digging into the history, though.
A mission was a mission, and this one offered plenty of EXP and plenty of money.
That was all he needed to know.
Another notification followed almost immediately.
[Mission: Unusual Activity — Complete.] [Rewards Obtained: EXP +500.] [Nick Fury Favorability +5.] [Item Obtained: Sunstone Chainsaw.] [Sunstone Chainsaw: A chainsaw forged from Sunstone.
Deals enhanced damage to any creature vulnerable to sunlight.
While wielded during daylight hours, Strength +1.] [Evaluation: Times change.
Vampire hunting should change with them.] Calvin’s grin widened.
He had completed one mission and received another before he could even put his phone away.
For months, he had practically begged the world for work.
Now the missions were coming to him.
Life was good.
He climbed back into the truck— —and immediately found Matt and Frank glaring at each other like they had spent the thirty seconds Calvin was gone speed-running their way toward another fistfight.
Calvin sighed, stepped between them, and effortlessly forced them apart.
“Save some energy, both of you.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Either of you interested in helping me kill some vampires?” …
Elsewhere in Hell’s Kitchen, a narrow alley sat hidden between two decaying buildings.
A gaunt beggar in filthy, ragged clothing was curled against the wall near the back.
He smelled terrible.
Rot, sweat, and garbage hung around him so heavily that even the surrounding air seemed contaminated.
Despite apparently being too poor to afford clean clothes, the man somehow produced a small container of food from inside his coat and started mixing it with surprising enthusiasm.
He had just taken a deep breath and was preparing to enjoy his meal when a golden handgun pressed against the side of his head.
Three masked figures stood over him, blocking the moonlight.
“Well, look at that.” Calvin looked down at the beggar coldly and nudged his temple twice with the barrel of the Golden Desert Eagle.
“The Hand has people stationed out here too.” His eyes narrowed.
“Don’t tell me you people are working with the vampires as well.” The beggar blinked up at him.
“Wh-what?” His expression was perfectly innocent, his voice trembling.
“Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
What ninjas?
I’m just homeless—” Crack!
Calvin kicked one of his legs sideways.
Bone snapped.
The man screamed and collapsed onto the pavement.
“Talk.” Calvin’s voice remained calm.
“I’m not in the mood for the performance.” The supposed beggar writhed on the ground, clutching his broken leg.
“Police!
Someone call the police!
You monsters!
You’re all going to hell!” Calvin crouched closer.
Then he quietly said two words.
“Dragon bones.” The man froze.
His expression changed so abruptly that it was almost comical.
The fear in his eyes became genuine.
‘He knows about the dragon bones?’ His hand immediately darted toward his chest.
Too slow.
Pfft!
A nearly silent gunshot echoed through the alley.
A hole appeared in the man’s forehead, and his body collapsed.
A small communicator slipped from inside his clothes and hit the pavement.
Calvin crushed it beneath his boot.
“Thought so.” He looked toward Matt and Frank.
“The Hand is mixed up with the vampires too.” His expression cooled.
“Fisk, the Hand, vampires…
Hell’s Kitchen really attracts the worst possible business partnerships.” Frank frowned.
“What are they working toward?” “Who knows?” Calvin shrugged.
“But killing every vampire in that club seems like a pretty solid place to start.” Frank glanced toward the far end of the alley.
“They’ll know you’re coming.” He had investigated vampires before and understood how difficult their hideouts could be to clear.
“Most of their nests have multiple escape tunnels.
At night, if they realize you’re nearby before you reach them, they’ll disappear underground and scatter.
Tracking them afterward will be almost impossible.” Calvin’s expression slowly changed.
Then he smiled.
It was not a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry.” He looked at the other two.
“Just watch.” Frank studied him briefly, then nodded.
At this point, Calvin was so far beyond normal human standards that clearing out a vampire nest probably would not be particularly difficult for him.
Then Frank’s attention shifted toward Matt.
“And what about you?” A mocking edge returned to his voice.
“Suddenly you’re fine with killing vampires?
What happened to all that talk about law and due process?” Matt answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Vampires aren’t human.” His face remained perfectly calm.
“They don’t have human rights.” He tilted his head toward Frank.
“Read more.” Frank’s expression froze.
Then he immediately tried another angle.
“And Calvin just executed someone right in front of you.
Nothing to say about that?” Matt sounded almost sympathetic.
“I already explained this.” “I can’t beat him, and I can’t argue him out of it.” A slight frown appeared on his face.
“Were you not listening?” Frank’s eye twitched.
“Okay, enough.” Before the Punisher could erupt, Calvin caught him by the shoulder.
“We have vampires to kill.” Frank tried to pull away.
He failed completely.
Against Calvin’s absurd strength, resistance was mostly symbolic.
The three continued toward their destination.
The underground club stood at the end of the same alley.
Calvin had actually been there once before while completing an assignment involving an unfaithful spouse.
He had never imagined that the place was one of Hell’s Kitchen’s main vampire gathering spots.
Soon, they reached the entrance.
Two enormous men wearing dark sunglasses stood outside a pair of heavy steel doors.
Neither looked remotely welcoming.
Calvin did not bother speaking.
BANG!
BANG!
Two silver rounds struck the guards directly between the eyes.
Neither man made a sound.
Their bodies immediately disintegrated into ash, leaving almost nothing behind.
Very environmentally friendly.
Calvin had added silver ammunition to the Golden Desert Eagle almost immediately after obtaining the weapon.
Planning ahead paid off.
He glanced at Matt.
“Anything unusual about them through your senses?” Matt concentrated briefly, then shook his head.
“They had heartbeats.
Pulses.
Their blood was warm.” He paused.
“The only obvious difference was that they smelled much more strongly of blood than normal humans.” Calvin raised an eyebrow.
“Modern vampires are getting fancy.” As far as he knew, vampires were usually closer to walking corpses than living humans.
If the ones in this world had functioning circulation, warm blood, and other signs of life, then either they had evolved substantially or someone had been working on eliminating their traditional weaknesses.
Which only gave Calvin more reason to deal with them now.
He stepped up to the entrance, gripped the edge of the steel door, and pulled.
Screeeeech!
Metal tore apart.
The five-centimeter-thick steel door peeled open in Calvin’s hands like heavy foil.
Behind him, both Daredevil and the Punisher visibly winced.
There were moments when even they had to wonder whether Calvin still qualified as human.
His strength seemed more monstrous than that of most actual monsters.
The three entered without hesitation.
Beyond the first door stretched a long, lightless corridor.
No illumination came from inside, although faint club music could be heard pounding somewhere in the distance.
At the end of the passage stood another steel security door, this one fitted with an electronic keypad.
Calvin repeated the same solution.
He tore it open.
The smell hit them first.
Alcohol.
Sweat.
Bodies packed too closely together.
Then came the music, loud enough to be physically unpleasant.
Colored lights swept across a crowded dance floor where men and women of every background moved beneath the strobes with dazed, unhealthy smiles.
Several were obviously high.
None of them even seemed to notice that someone had just ripped the reinforced entrance door off by hand.
Calvin was perfectly happy with that.
He reached into his system inventory and retrieved what looked like a cheap portable bullhorn—the kind someone might use at a street market or political rally.
[Item: Taunt Horn] [Effect: Words spoken through this horn greatly increase the hostility of enemies who hear them, drawing their aggression toward the user.] Calvin turned the volume all the way up.
He cleared his throat twice.
Then he took a deep breath and raised the bullhorn.
“EVERYBODY, EYES ON ME!” The entire club began turning toward him.
Calvin smiled.
“FUCK YOU!”